In cab-couplings



F. L. KIRK BRID E.

improvement in Car Couplings.

N 127 -894. PatentedJuneI'l,1872.

I? 2. l lazv.

flaw/12 02."

WLbMussw. v

UNITED Snares PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,894, dated June 11, 1872.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK L. KIRK- BRIDE, of the city of WVyandotte, in the county of Wyandotte, in the State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Coupling Railroad Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in providing a new and improved draw-head and coupling-pin for such purpose.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

I construct my draw-head A with a swinging hook, B, one-half inch thick, more or less, with projection b extending slightly upward one-half the width of the pin 0, and made to fitin theniche in the end of thepin, as shown in Figure 1, and suspended on small bolt through projection on top of draw-head, immediately 'behind the pin-hole, so as to hold up the pin, hereinafter described, in position for coupling, as shown in Fig. 1. The hook is so hung that when the link in ordinary use for coupling cars strikes the hook so holding the pin it swings back into a niche provided for that purpose, and the pin, by its own weight, drops through the link and into the lower pin-hole. The mouth or opening in the draw-head has a small ridge, a, across the lower part, in front of the pin-hole, and the upper part bevels down, as in Fig. 1, so that the link when adjusted within the opening of the draw-head is higher at the outer end. The pin 0, which I use in connection with the above-mentioned draw-head, is of oblong shape,'of sufficient length to reach through the draw-head, and

has a notch, c, in the lower end, and rests on the hook above described when in position for coupling, as shown in Fig. 1.. The pin passes through a projection on the top of the drawhead sufficient to hold the pin in erect position, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. at shows the front of the draw-head with the pin slightly raised, exhibiting the pin and the lower end of the hook. Fig. 3, side view, with pin slightly inserted.

The form of the pin prevents its turning in the buffer-head, and its V-shaped notch in the lower end will always be in position to receive the projection or hook b 011 the gravitating pendant B. y

I do not propose to claim, broadly, a gravitating-bar for the support of the coupling-pin, which permits the said pin to drop automatically on the introduction of the link into the buffer-head, as this feature is old. The point of novelty consists in the use of a notch or concavity in the end of the coupling-pin in connection with an upwardly-projecting hook on the gravitatin g-bar, which prevent the tooeasy swinging of the bar and consequent dropping of the pin, resulting from the jars to which the cars are subject.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the coupling-pin G having a notch, 0, in its lower end, and the swinging bar B provided with an upwardly-projecting hook, 11, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

Dated at Wyandotte, Kansas, this 22d day of February, A. D. 1872.

FRED. L. KIRKBRIDE.

Witnesses:

JAMES A. .GRUIsE, RICHARD W. CLARK. 

